t4terrific
New member
It's easier to screw up the slingshot than the slide stop lever.
Slide Release
- Thread starter Lee6113
- Start date
Whatever you do, practice a lot.
Generally speaking, if your technique is good, racking the slide is a little more reliable because you fully compress the spring. That means more energy to feed the round into the chamber. Not a lot more energy, but it can make a difference in some cases.
But that requires good technique which requires practice.
The other reason to rack the slide is if there's any reasonable chance you might have to operate a self-defense gun that either doesn't have a slide release or has one that is hard to operate. Some guns have very small, or hard to reach, slide releases and some don't have one at all. If you depend on a gun like that for self-defense you should practice racking the slide, not using the release even if the gun you're shooting at the range has a release.
Using the slide release will usually be faster if the release is easy to operate and easy to reach. If all the guns you use for self-defense are like that and, when using the slide release, will ALWAYS feed the first round from a completely full magazine even when the gun is dirty, then use the slide release.
Generally speaking, if your technique is good, racking the slide is a little more reliable because you fully compress the spring. That means more energy to feed the round into the chamber. Not a lot more energy, but it can make a difference in some cases.
But that requires good technique which requires practice.
The other reason to rack the slide is if there's any reasonable chance you might have to operate a self-defense gun that either doesn't have a slide release or has one that is hard to operate. Some guns have very small, or hard to reach, slide releases and some don't have one at all. If you depend on a gun like that for self-defense you should practice racking the slide, not using the release even if the gun you're shooting at the range has a release.
Using the slide release will usually be faster if the release is easy to operate and easy to reach. If all the guns you use for self-defense are like that and, when using the slide release, will ALWAYS feed the first round from a completely full magazine even when the gun is dirty, then use the slide release.
Walt Sherrill
New member
If so, I wish some of the other gunmakers used the same lipstick.
My Glock 34 (since traded away) was the first gun that allowed me to EASILY use my strong-hand thumb to release the slide after a reload. The 34's release is slightly more extended than the levers in 17 and 19.
I've owned (and own) a few others guns that allow it, too, but it's not as easy with some of those guns; with others, you must shift your hand a bit -- which is a negative.
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Last edited:
serf 'rett
New member
To answer Walt's question - I find it is easy to activate the slide mounted decocker/safety when trying to rack the slide both hand over and slingshot methods when running my Jericho.
jason.copas
Inactive
A few people have mentioned that hand over works on most handguns (not M9's though, turns the safety on). I've basically quit carrying different "types" of handguns because of an incident I had switching between platforms, and stick with 1911's. I scared the pee out of myself doing reload on one of my Sigs a few years ago. As I brought my weak hand back on the frame I swept the non existent slide release up there, and got the decocker. I didn't realize what happened at first, muscle memory and all. All I knew was I watched the hammer follow the slide back down and was expecting a slam fire. That's when I decided multiple manual of arms on carry guns was a bad idea for me.
So I guess what I am saying is use what you are comfortable with, just make sure it works with everything that you might pull out of your holster.
So I guess what I am saying is use what you are comfortable with, just make sure it works with everything that you might pull out of your holster.